Identifying and removing bubble algae species

GrimReefer82

Roll Tide!!!
I have a problem with bubble algae that I have been working to resolve. I have the attitude at this point that I need to try and identify what type I have to maximize my chances of ridding the tank.

I found 2 articles that by appearance this algae matches, but it does not behave like these articles say it should. By appearances alone I would say it is Dicyospheria or Valonia Aegagropila because it grows in clusters however these articles state that these species do not spread rapidly and are not a need for real concern. The species that I have spreads very rapidly but looks as described above.

I know from past experience that emerald crabs are hit and miss but I added a few anyways. I remember reading years ago that a Foxface have been known in rare occasions to eat it so I added one of those. I also manually removed as much as possible, turned up my skimmer, added phos-zorb and large amounts of carbon to the 404 all with little results. It returns in a matter of days.

Tank details are as follows. 125g reef display with LPS, softies, bubble tip anemones and clams. The fish I have are a maroon clown, foxface, blue damsel, lemonpeel angelfish, blue regal tang, mandarin dragonette and a buddha cardinal. Invertebrates, cleaner shrimp, serpent star, sand sifting star, 2 emerald crabs, 5 scarlet reef hermits, 10 blue leg hermits, 1 turbo snail.

Lighting and filtration. 6 80 watt T5ho's w/ individual reflectors 2 blue plus bulbs are on for 12 hours and the aquable special, fiji purple and 2 more blue plus are on for 10. I do not have any moonlights so the tank is completely dark for 12 hours. Eshopp's psk-200 skimmer, fluval 404 canister, approx 15g sump area, 15g fuge area and another seperate 12g fuge tank both of which are lighted 24 hours and 1 has chaetomorpha algae in it.

Tank parameters, calcium 390-400 ppm, phosphate 0 - 0.25 ppm, 10 dkh, nitrite, ammonia and nitrate all zero, salinity is 1.026 and temp is 78, ph 8.2 all measured with api test kits and a refractometer.

Any help or ideas to resolve this matter would be greatly appreciated!
 
I've been battling an algae problem ever since I started my system almost a year ago and I'm finally beginning to see it disappear. I'm using rowaphos in a TLF phosban reactor, but what I believe has helped the most is manual removal. Every week I bring out the universal brush and scrub my rocks right before my water change. I added a micron sock to gather any algae that falls down the drain and that has been crucial. I'm also more careful with how I feed my fish for instance I strain my frozen food before adding it to the tank which I didn't do before. Maybe you're already doing all of this, but I thought I'd give my $0.02.
 
Before my current scape, I did managed to eradicate the bubble algae in my 4ft tank. A friend of mine gave me a juvenile vlamingi tang. I wasn't keen in getting a tang at that moment but the fish was quite small then so what the heck. My bubble algae infestation was quite bad back then. Upon adding the juvenile vlamingi tang, the bubble algae began to lessen. I did overturn some live rock which is infested by the said algae and the algae would be consumed immediately by the tang. The tang grew fat and got big and I returned it to the lfs.
 
That is actually the first I have ever heard of a vlamingi tang touching the stuff! I have as you suggested manually removed this crap and it just kept coming back. I just added a desjardini sailfin tang a foxface and a whole bunch of emerald crabs and it looks like I am making a little progress. I also bought the PURA PhosLock ferric hydroxide that I have read almost everywhere that it will bring phosphates down to true zero in a matter of days. As soon as I read up on it some more I'm going to put it to use. I will definately let u know if it works.
 
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